DO YOU LIVE IN FLORIDA - Question

[Grumpy's Gal]

ALIGATORS! And its mating Season, so they are coming up out of the canals and such, to find a Mate! Come ON down, its fun here.........

I do like DW A LOT! But it would take me awhile to get used to alligators (!?!?!) and I don't know if I'd ever get used to lizzards!

 

[Evil Queen]

I have only seen 3 gators (unless on golf course with my Dad when I was younger) in my years here. And I've been here for the most part of 40 years.

Once in the canal behind my last job and one my ex almost hit when we were driving oldest son around when he was a baby (trying to get him to sleep). There it was right in the middle of the road and it was HUGE!! And near the Everglades, they were pulling one out of the canal, it had become a danger to the surrounding farming land.

I have iguanas in my back yard and all throughout the entire area.

 

[Feralpeg]

I store all of my Chirstmas decorations and other holiday decorations in plastic tubs stacked along the wall in my garage. I've had no problems with them from the heat. I do keep them in the plastic tubs to avoid little pests. We have seen black widow spiders around the outside of our house and I would hate to encounter one of them in the midst of our decorations.

 

[makinorlando]

I store all of my Chirstmas decorations and other holiday decorations in plastic tubs stacked along the wall in my garage. I've had no problems with them from the heat. I do keep them in the plastic tubs to avoid little pests. We have seen black widow spiders around the outside of our house and I would hate to encounter one of them in the midst of our decorations.

Yes plastic tubs are my friend. When I first moved here, I put my unpacked boxes in the garage, and slowly unpacked the non essential items, once I encountere my first family of palmetto bugs (aka BIG ROACHES) in the boxes I invested in many plastic tubs. They do stack neater and easier too!

Haven't encountered the black widows yet... DD keeps looking though!

 

[ChristmasElf]

You know what else I have not really seen in houses in FL (at least the one's I have been in or looked at when buying) - no closet in the entrance way of the house. In PA there is always a closet of some sort near the front door for coats, etc.

That's because we don't need coats here. Sweatshirts okay, light jacket-occasionally, sweater once in a while. Winter heavy coats-never!

 

[John VN]

Do they have Black Widow spiders or Scorpions in Florida ? anyone ever found one in your home or in your storage boxes when you unpack for the the holidays.

After we built our house we had plenty of scorpions inside and outside and yes got stung.

Black Widow and Brown Widow spiders also.

Lizards galore but they eat bugs so we keep them happy.

Snakes in our caged pool.

Florida living is interesting.

 

[makinorlando]

That's because we don't need coats here. Sweatshirts okay, light jacket-occasionally, sweater once in a while. Winter heavy coats-never!

Well yes, I know that. It was just such a change after living in the north for 40+ years, to move into a house without one!

It just happens to be one of the things that my guests from up north always comment on!

I don't own anything heavier than a denim jacket and a sweatshirt.

 

[Miranda Danda]

No basement here..... but we do have an attic, a barn, and a garage

 

[puggymom]

Believe it or not here in Essex County, NJ I do not have a basement. My development is a post WWII and it is all capes and ranches, except for a few houses no one has a basement. I love it that way. I have nice size laundry/mud room when you first come in from the garage, that I have shelves and there are more shelves in the garage. I too use the plastic containers to store holiday stuff. I have a ranch and that means no stairs, which is great when doing laundry, etc. I do have an attic, but hate those pull down stairs. My Mom actually has started to store a few things up there as she is getting ready to move. I can't be bothered going up there.

 

[Magickndm]

We keep most of our Christmas stuff in the attic, have always done it. Other than a melted candle (no idea how that got in the box anyway) I've never had a single problem with mildewy smells or bugs. What I do is snip off a few branches from the live tree, wrap them in paper towls so the needles don't make a mess, and put them in the boxes. Really keeps the stuff smelling ok.
We have a coat closet, and yes, we have coats in them. It does in fact get cold enough here to use them. Of course I'm a wimp, and cold to me is anything below 65.
Umbrellas are in the car.
Lizards are just a fact of life here, kinda cute if you ask me.

 

[CPM]

No basement, houses are built on slabs. Not a big deal.

I have a Christams ornament collection that is in the thousands. I have five trees. With that in mind, we built extra space in the closets for them. You would be surprised how much space is closed up with dry wall. We popped up the ceilings in all the closets so they were big enough to hold Rubbermaid containers. They rest on the top rack where you hang clothes. You can't even see them. I left space enough on teh sides, so you can stack some and get the others down.
I line the Rubbermaids with the XXL Zip Locs and fill.

My attic hold the larger trees and all my other holiday decorations. All nicely marked. I never had a problem going up there and I don't like critters. It's all neatly organzied.

Closets down here are usually larger than the ones in Northern homes. I do throw out a lot more stuff down here rather than saving. Like gift boxes, I hardly ever save more than three or four at a time. Up north, I probably would have saved all of them!

It works out, you get used to it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

where do you keep umbrellas, raincoats, mittens, boots? Ok, As I'm typing this, I realize you may not have a need for boots and mittens in FL. I am still in "awe" about the no basement thing............ do you ever have tornadoes? Where do you go?

room without windows

bathtub with a mattress

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

.

No basements. The water table is definitely too high for them although maybe there are some in the Panhandle. I've heard of people having problems with their swimming pools if they empty them because the pools will pop right out of the ground if you do leave it empty. I've never lived in a house with a basement anyway, so I'm not missing anything--basements aren't a real common thing on the west coast either.

Yep--we keep them full year round and should it need emptying for maintenance reasons--there is a pipe that you can connect a hose to (not like a garden hose) and I think you may need a pump. This is what we had to do until the pool was full.

So if you move to florida and get a pool---don't drain it!

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Most if not all of california has earthquakes. There may be some areas but not many. Out there it has a lot to due with the earthquakes. It was a big adjustment moving to California for us to have no basement. Luckily we had a big garage. Not a big deal having no basement in Florida. When we need to, we just go the first floor bathroom and huddle up!

Matt

 

[rparmfamily]

No basements because of the water table. My dad is buried below ground but the cemetary is on a hill. (yes, there are hills in Florida)

Haven't seen a scorpion or black widow spider (been here since 89') but friends near me have seen several scorpions.

I'm from Ohio, our old house didn't have a basement either. Makes you keep a lot less junk. Of course, my garage is full of stuff but I don't really have to park in it. Doesn't snow so I don't need to keep my car out of the weather. I keep nearly everything in plastic bins too. My xmas tree is in the attic in my garage. I DO have a coat closet, it stores my shoes. (most people don't wear shoes in the house)

As for the lizards, (anoles I think) they are cute and at their biggest, are 3" long from head to tip of tail. They are tiny guys, nothing to be scared of. They eat bugs, they are your friend!

Oh yes, everyone has pest control services. Ours is quarterly and cost $65. Totally worth it!

Tornados, I've only heard of one that wasn't related to a hurricane. Don't really have them here, perhaps once a year? We had zero last year in my area.

 

[Magickndm]

rparmfamily

As for the lizards, (anoles I think) they are cute and at their biggest, are 3" long from head to tip of tail. They are tiny guys, nothing to be scared of. They eat bugs, they are your friend!

Oh yes, everyone has pest control services. Ours is quarterly and cost $65. Totally worth it!

I've heard the term "anoles" for lizards twice on here now, I've lived here all my 36 years and have never heard of anything other than lizard for them.
We do not have pest control. do it ourselves. COMBAT is our friend.

 

[hentob]

That's because we don't need coats here. Sweatshirts okay, light jacket-occasionally, sweater once in a while. Winter heavy coats-never!

Hey Elf--I beg to differ

Let me take you back to January of 2000 or was it 2001. (We went through a stage of going to WDW in January ) Anyways, we have video of us waiting for Magic Kingdom to open its gates and we all have on hats, mittens and WINTER COATS

Holy smokes was it cold!!--And we are from PA! But, it warmed up pretty nicely once the day got rolling. Also, there was no snow, so it wasn't bad at all. Not to mention we were in WDW, so it seemed downright balmy

 

[rparmfamily]

Magic--
Since living here I've only called them lizards too, but a friend from Maine told me they are called anoles and they sell them in pet shops up there. I looked it up online and found that anoles is the proper name for them. I still call them lizards though!

 

[Evil Queen]

Hey Elf--I beg to differ

Let me take you back to January of 2000 or was it 2001. (We went through a stage of going to WDW in January ) Anyways, we have video of us waiting for Magic Kingdom to open its gates and we all have on hats, mittens and WINTER COATS

Holy smokes was it cold!!--And we are from PA! But, it warmed up pretty nicely once the day got rolling. Also, there was no snow, so it wasn't bad at all. Not to mention we were in WDW, so it seemed downright balmy

I remember the year it snowed in S. Florida (20+ years ago). I am such a stupid Floridian, I didn't know what it was. I was in 6th grade, now tell me that's not sad.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Florida does get a lot of tornados yearly but most are a result of a landfalling tropical system. Also make sure you realize they are usually not like the F2 or F3 or F4 or F5's like they get in the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest. But you still need to take shelter because they can be dangerous. I wouldnt let it be a deterent on moving to FL. Its really a wonderful place and my 2nd favorite place I have lived. One good thing to get if you are coming to Florida is get a Weather Radio!! Will come in handy during hurricanes and when there is nasty weather with Tornados.

Matt